Every month we will highlight information about a few of our localagencies. Please keep coming back as you will learn a great deal about the rich resources we have in the Valley!

Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit, Christian housing ministry that works both to eliminate poverty housing around the world and to make adequate housing a matter of conscience and action.  Habitat welcomes to the table partners from any faith – or from no faith – who are willing to pick up a hammer to help improve the lives of families needing decent shelter.

WHAT WE DO
 Local Habitat for Humanity affiliates build and renovate houses in partnership with people in need, and then sell the houses to the homeowner partners.  Homeowners are selected by local affiliates based on their need for housing, ability to pay a no-profit mortgage and willingness to partner with Habitat.  Mortgage payments contribute to a Fund for Humanity, which in turn provides money to build more houses. Because of Habitat’s no-profit loans and because the houses are principally built with volunteer labor and donated or reduced priced materials, mortgage payments are affordable for low-income partners.  

The Mount Washington Valley Habitat for Humanity affiliate is currently building homes on our land at Morrell Drive in Conway New Hampshire.  We have completed four homes and are nearing completion on the fifth of eleven planned homes in this neighborhood.  Using available funds and volunteer labor we have been building a new home for one local family each year.  That’s not good enough!  We have sufficient land and skilled volunteers to build more – but not the available funds.  We need to involve a greater number of local residents in this important activity.  To that end we are considering opening a retail building supply store (ReStore) to sell donated building materials at greatly reduced prices to local residents.  This would make renovations and repairs more affordable to all homeowners while raising money to build more homes for local families in need of affordable housing. The ReStore concept is a Habitat creation with nearly 500 open around the country. 

The ReStore mission: A ReStore operation will serve many interests in the MWV and provide new sources of funds to allow additional homes to be built locally.  Building supply stores, both local and national chains have historically donated overstocks, discontinued, and otherwise surplus materials to nearby ReStore operations.  Also, local building contractors are generous givers of leftover material, and are some of the best customers of a Habitat for Humanity ReStore.  The availability of lower cost building material allows smaller building contractors to offer lower cost renovation and repair bids to local homeowners.  Tax credits are available to those making donations. Homeowners who are capable of doing the work themselves can make repairs and renovations that otherwise might be unaffordable at regular retail prices. It is frequently reported locally that the MWV suffers from a shortage of affordable rental and other housing for employees of many local businesses.  The MWV Habitat for Humanity home building activity is focused on providing safe, clean, and affordable home ownership for qualified families in just that demographic. All of us have an interest in improving the environment and can contribute to that goal by buying from a Habitat for Humanity ReStore.  Many ReStores around the country have documented a reduction in landfill disposal in thousands of tons per year.   Much new and usable material is sent to the landfill by local businesses every year when there is no otherwise affordable disposal opportunity. The MWV Habitat for Humanity ReStore may open in the spring of 2007 should sufficient resources be obtained. The Mount Washington Valley Habitat for Humanity affiliates Board of Directors created a sub-committee to research the viability of opening a local ReStore.  The resulting market research verified the local potential and the board approved a search for volunteers to develop and implement a formal business plan. Additional ReStore “advisors” (fund raising/ReStore advice) are now being sought to provide a wide range of local community involvement. Skill sets needed are: Environmental/government grants writing; Fund raising campaign management; Business community support organization involvement; Small residential construction business; Developing volunteer staffs; Retail building supply store operations. Interested volunteers should contact Clark Boydston at 603-694-3355 or ccbebs@pivot.net.

 Do you know about the USDA Rural Development Office in Conway? Their mission is to increase economic opportunity and improve the quality of life for rural Americans by helping individuals, communities and businesses obtain the financial and technical assistance needed to address their diverse and unique needs. They offer financial support programs such as essential public facilities and services as water and sewer systems, housing, health clinics, emergency service facilities and electric and telephone service. We promote economic development by supporting loans to businesses through banks and community-managed lending pools. We offer technical assistance and information to help agricultural and other cooperatives get started and improve the effectiveness of their member services. And we provide technical assistance to help communities undertake community empowerment programs. For further information contact Anne M. Getchell, Rural Development Specialist
 603-447-3318

On July 1, 2005, Carroll County Mental Health changed their name to The Mental Health Center.  This change comes as a part of an overall name change for the agency.  Its parent agency, Northern New Hampshire Mental Health and Developmental Services, officially became Northern Human Services (Northern) on July 1st as well.  The name, Northern Human Services, was suggested by staff, and reflects the geographic area it serves and the diverse programs in mental health, substance abuse and developmental disabilities it offers.  The Mental Health Center,  located at 25 West Main Street in Conway and 70 Bay St. in Wolfeboro, has been serving the northern Carroll County region since 1968.  The Mental Health Center serves approximately 600 individuals annually for mental health and substance abuse issues.  Family Connections assists families with children under age eighteen with prevention-oriented support and services.  We offer support on an individual basis designed to enable families to control their futures by assisting them in meeting needs which they have identified as concerns.  The Resource Coordinator meets with families in their home or workplace to assess their needs, identify their strengths, and assist them in acquiring appropriate resources and in developing a concrete action plan to resolve the issues they have identified.  Family Connections offers assistance with issues such as parent education and support; health education; adult literacy; life skills training; resource coordination; child care resources and referrals; and family empowerment.  Our services are available free of charge and can be accessed directly or through a referral from a school district, health care provider, Department of Health and Human Services, or Carroll County Mental Health.  To find out more about the program or to ask for assistance for yourself or a family that you think might benefit from this service, please contact Sarah Parsons at Children Unlimited.  The phone number is 447-6356.  

White Mountain Community Health Center

The WMCHC's mission is to provide high quality primary health care, public health services and related support service, in response to the health status needs of the community.  Services will be provided without restricting their availability or compromising the quality of care given on any basis including race, creed, gender, national origin, handicap, age, sexual orientation, or ability to pay.   We provide services to those who have Healthy Kids Gold and Silver, Medicaid, Medicare, commercial insurances, and most importantly residents who lack coverage and limited resources for payment. The Center has a sliding fee scale that is based on the income related to the published poverty level. 

We believe everyone should be able to access health care services and we provide the mechanism to do so through our fee scale. Our funding allows us to provide additional services that patients may need such as nutrition and social work.  Adult primary care for diagnosis, treatment and prevention is offered through physicals and sick call appointments. We offer specific programs for prenatal, pediatric, teen walk-in clinic, family planning, and dental hygiene.  Other services include HIV and sexually transmitted disease testing, chronic disease management, and referral services. Some laboratory services are provided on site and others are sent out to a full service laboratory.

Our clinical staff includes medical assistants, nurses, nurse practitioners, family practice physician, social workers, nurse midwifes, dental hygienist, and a nutritionist.  Our staff is trained and has specialties across the age ranges from a pediatric nurse practitioner to a nurse practitioner specializing in geriatrics. Our newest offering is called Healthy Heart Screens.  For $15.00 a series of tests are taken to measure know variables to heart disease.  The tests are blood sugar, cholesterol, blood pressure, weight, and body mass index (a measure of weight and height).  The results are available at the time of the appointment.  The nurse provides education and brochures about each measure of health.  Currently, the appointments are on Friday mornings.  Due to the low cost of these exams, full payment is expected at the time of service.
Appointments can be made by calling 603-447-8900 and press 1. WMCHC is located at 298 White Mountain Highway (Route 16) next to Hill’s RV.